Skarab
Skarab (also spelt incorrectly as Scarab on its statistics board) was a competitor robot that fought in Series 1 of Robot Wars. It reached the Heat Final in its only appearance, where it lost to T.R.A.C.I.E.. At just over 86kg, it was the third heaviest robot in Series 1 after Barry and Dreadnaut. The robot was named after an ancient Egyptian beetle. Chris Crosskey would later enter Series 2 with the similarly-designed and themed Rameses II, while Jonathan Attias built the super heavyweight Automatic Jack. Design Skarab was a rounded yellow and black box-shaped robot armed with a spring-loaded steel hammer, which could be retracted through the use of a car starter motor. The robot was driven by two wheelchair motors, had a relatively low top speed of 3mph and utilised suspension springs from an antique car as part of its construction. The top of Skarab's body shell had Egyptian symbols and an image of a scarab painted on top, as references to its name. However, the robot's colour scheme and shape led it to being jokingly described by Jonathan Pearce as a 'birthday cake on wheels', and Jeremy Clarkson as 'cheese on toast'. In response to Clarkson's comment, the team wrote 'CAUTION SLOW MOVING CHEESE ON TOAST' on Skarab's rear end before its Heat Final battle against T.R.A.C.I.E., as well as jokingly saying that it better resembled a 'coffee cake'. Throughout its heat, Skarab received two key modifications to its body and weapon. For the Snooker trial, a pair of side arms were fixed to the robot's front end, allowing it collect and steer balls into its pocket for that trial. For its Heat Final, a swinging mace - borrowed from Killertron - was fixed to the end of Skarab's hammer, after Team Trojan helped repair the hammer before the battle. Robot History Series 1 Skarab competed in Heat F, and was the fifth robot in this heat to negotiate the Gauntlet. It steadily drove off the turntable and took the right-hand route, being momentarily turned round by Sergeant Bash before negotiating past him. Dead Metal blocked Skarab’s path as Sergeant Bash chased it down the route, but Skarab steadily nudged Dead Metal away to reach the end zone, finishing third in the results table and qualifying for the Trial stage. Alongside the other five surviving competitors, Skarab fought in the Snooker trial, now fitted with its side arms. It and The Blob immediately drove out of their pockets in an attempt to collect balls, but Skarab turned and backed away as the former scattered the balls around the arena. Eventually, Skarab collected one ball, potted it just after Prince of Darkness potted its first ball, and deliberately stopped in its pocket, where it remained for the rest of the trial. While Prince of Darkness would eventually emerge victorious with six balls, Skarab still qualified for the Arena stage with one ball, after The Blob, T.R.A.C.I.E. and Eubank the Mouse all failed to score at all. In its Semi-Final, Skarab faced The Blob. Both robots trundled towards and bumped each other in the opening moments, before Skarab briefly pushed The Blob back. The Blob retaliated by ramming Skarab back before Sergeant Bash intervened and attacked it. Skarab responded by swinging its hammer, but missed, and pushed The Blob against the side rails, where it became apparent that The Blob had lost mobility. Sergeant Bash and Shunt came in to attack The Blob, with Skarab retreating and spinning around in victory as ‘cease’ was called. In the Heat Final, Skarab faced T.R.A.C.I.E., with Killertron’s mace added to the end of its hammer. It immediately trundled towards T.R.A.C.I.E., but was speared side-on by one of the latter’s spikes and became stuck. The House Robots came in to separate both robots, with Skarab spinning to break itself free. As it did so, T.R.A.C.I.E.’s spike tore part of its front armour off before T.R.A.C.I.E. drove under Skarab’s mace and speared its front end as Skarab attempted to push it back in return. Skarab spun around in the middle of the arena as T.R.A.C.I.E. drove into and impaled Sergeant Bash, before getting attacked by Matilda, whose chainsaw cut off the radio control mast for its hammer. It escaped as T.R.A.C.I.E. rammed Matilda away, and continued spinning around until ‘cease’ was called. The battle went to a judges’ decision, which unanimously went in favour of T.R.A.C.I.E., eliminating Skarab from the First Wars. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 1 *Losses: 1 NOTE: Skarab's successful Gauntlet and Trial runs are not included Series Record Trivia *Skarab is one of twenty-three robots to have completed The Gauntlet. Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots to complete the Gauntlet Category:Robots from Oxfordshire Category:Robots with Hammers Category:UK Heat Finalists Category:Robots with an equal amount of Wins and Losses Category:Robots which debuted in Series 1 Category:Robots which only fought in Series 1 Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Series 2